Six New Things – Week of September 05, 2022

With so much happening at The Ministry Lab and so many great resources just emerging, we can’t resist sending out a post this week.

Especially as so many resources resonate with our Belonging: Welcome Wellbeing series. We hope you’ll join us for all seven conversations, but you can participate in one, some, or all – in person or via zoom. Registration for Belonging to Self: Self-Care, Cultural Norms, and Grace-Filled Boundaries (Sept. 13) closes this Friday, September 9.

ONE

It all starts with you, dear leader: let us take care of you for one and a half hours on September 13 and you and your ministry will be blessed as you counter the supremacy narratives of going it alone and pulling yourself up by your boot-straps.

Here’s why:

One Thursday Afternoon (Flyaway) explores how an unpredictable world can make us feel, ‘reminding us that big fears can become smaller when…together [we] look, listen, and create’.

Here’s how:

Overcome leader loneliness with #2 in our series: Belonging in Call (September 20).

TWO

‘Together’, as we ‘look, listen, and create’, we’ll explore tools to support healthier families and intergenerational bonds through emotional awareness and storytelling in Belonging of Family (Oct. 4) & Belonging among Elders (Oct. 11).

A Sanctified Art clearly appreciates this approach as they unveil From Generation to Generation: Advent Resources for Year A (it includes EVERYTHING for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany!!).

Holy Disruption: Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark (WJK) also offers art and other materials for worship, preaching, and study.

Or, you might appreciate the multiple generations represented in Expecting Emmanuel: Eight Women Who Prepared the Way (MennoMedia).

THREE

Sabbath rest is essential to personal, professional, familial, and communal wellbeing. Rest with us in Belonging with God (Oct. 25).

Here’s Why Doing Nothing Is Good for You (Yes! Magazine).

Let nature soothe your soul, too: Karen Armstrong recommends Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World (Penguin Random House).

Focus on nature this Sunday with prompts from the Green Blades Rising Preacher’s Roundtable, written this week by me!

FOUR

Move from self-care to community-growth with IRL: Finding Our Real Selves in a Digital World (Broadleaf). Let the Enfleshing Witness Podcast (Church Anew) serve as an example of using tech to expand understanding.

Then join us for Belonging for Relationship (Nov. 1) and get tips for how tech can deepen and broaden your community.

FIVE

‘Learn to cultivate the extraordinary gifts of Christian community in the countryside with Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church‘ (Abingdon).

No matter where you live and serve, discover how you might become a more Vital Christian Community: 12 Characteristics of Healthy Congregations (Church).

SIX

Let ‘together’ be bigger by embracing and celebrating diversity (Nov. 8). Get ready, first by Silencing White Noise: Six Practices to Overcome Our Inaction on Race (Baker); then, Do the Work! An Antiracist Activity Book (Workman); when you’re ready, get The Church in the Public: A Politics of Engagement for a Cruel and Indifferent Age (Fortress).

If the unpredictable world causes extreme fear and anxiety, Belonging is the antidote. We want to help you cultivate Belonging – within your self and your community!! Join us for one, some or all of Belonging: Welcome Wellbeing for support, encouragement, and invigoration for the journey!!